Singing Apple (The), in the deserts of Libya. This apple resembled a ruby crowned with a huge diamond, and had the gift of imparting wit to those who only smelt of it. Prince Cherry obtained it for Fairstar. (See [Singing Tree].)
The singing apple is as great an embellisher of wit as the dancing water is of beauty. Would you appear in public as a poet or prose writer, a wit or a philosopher, you only need smell it, and you are possessed at once of these rare gifts of genius.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Princess Fairstar,” 1682).
Singing Tree (The), a tree, every leaf of which was a mouth, and all the leaves sang together in harmonious concert.—Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters,” the last story).
*** In the tale of Cherry and Fairstar, “the singing tree” is called “[the singing apple]” (q.v.).
Single-Speech Hamilton, William Gerard Hamilton, statesman (1729-1796). His first speech was delivered November 13, 1775, and his eloquence threw into the shade every orator except Pitt himself.
It was supposed that he had exhausted himself in that one speech, and had become physically incapable of making a second; so that afterwards, when he really did make a second, everybody was naturally disgusted, and most people dropped his acquaintance.—De Quincey (1786-1859).
Singleton (Captain), the hero of a novel by D. Defoe, called The Adventures of Captain Singleton.
Singular Doctor (The), William Occam, Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis (1276-1347).
*** The “Occam razor” was entia non sunt multiplicanda, “entities are not to be unnecessarily multiplied.” In other words, elements, genera, and first principles are very few in number.
Sinner Saved (A). Cyra, daughter of Proterĭus of Cappadōcia, was on the point of taking the veil among Emmelia’s sisterhood, and just before the day of renunciation, Elĕēmon, her father’s freed slave, who loved her, sold himself to the devil, on condition of obtaining her for his wife. He signed the bond with a drop of his heart’s blood, and carried about with him a little red spot on his bresst, as a perpetual reminder of the compact. The devil now sent a dream to Cyra, and another to her father, which caused them to change their plans; and on the very day that Cyra was to have taken the veil, she was given by St. Basil in marriage to Eleemon, with whom she lived happily for many years, and had a large family. One night, while her husband was asleep, Cyra saw the blood-red spot; she knew what it meant, and next day Eleemon told her the whole story. Cyra now bestirred herself to annul the compact, and went with her husband to St. Basil, to whom a free and full confession was made. Eleemon was shut up for a night in a cell, and Satan would have carried him off, but he clung to the foot of a crucifix. Next day Satan met St. Basil in the cathedral, and demanded his bond. St. Basil assured him the bond was illegal and invalid. The devil was foiled, the red mark vanished from the skin of Eleemon, a sinner was saved, and St. Basil came off victorious.—Amphilochius, Life of St. Basil. (See Rosweyde, Vitæ Patrum, 156-8.)